This 850-year-old ‘firework’ supernova is full of mysterious knots
Quick facts What it is: Pa 30, a supernova remnant Where it is: 7,500 light-years away, in the constellation Cassiopeia When it was shared: Oct.
Category: Science
Can cuttlefish hypnotize their prey?
Like their cephalopod cousins the octopuses , cuttlefish are masters of disguise. As they hunt, these marine predators send waves of color across their skin.
Indonesia’s Anak Krakatau
Anak Krakatau erupts ash and volcanic gases in this image acquired with the OLI (Operational Land Imager) on Landsat 8 on Sept. 5, 2026.
California redwoods are struggling in the heat — and it’s not clear how much damage is being done
When temperatures spike, California redwoods slow down photosynthesis, new research has found. This finding has serious implications for the long-term survival of the iconic trees
Is the brain actually 2 nervous systems smooshed together? A new study claims it is.
Recent research challenges a long-standing idea about how the brain develops: Rather than arising from a single source, the brain may emerge from two distinct
Has there ever been a mountain taller than Everest?
Sometimes, it takes a great struggle to build towering peaks. And what more thunderous event is there than the clashing of continental plates? Geological pileups
New 4,300-mile-long internet cable will shuttle data along the ocean floor at 1 million gigabits per second
A new 4,300-mile (7,000-kilometer) undersea fiber cable will shuttle data between the U.S. and France at breakneck speeds of up to 1 million gigabits per
Crossword: Time lines
Solve the crossword from our November 2026 issue, in which we cultivate an understanding of growth curves.
Archaeologists discover the oldest dwelling in the Western Hemisphere at a 13,800-year-old site in Alaska
Archaeologists digging at a 13,800-year-old site in interior Alaska have unearthed thousands of artifacts and fossils, including what may be the bones of the earliest
Physicists froze a ‘necklace’ of atoms — and witnessed a quantum phenomenon predicted 100 years ago
“Necklaces” of ultracold atoms have provided new evidence to support a nearly 100-year-old quantum theory. In 1931, physicists were trying to use quantum mechanics to
Artemis II Heat Shield After Splashdown
Shortly after Artemis II splashdown on April 10, 2026, U.S. Navy divers captured underwater imagery of the Orion spacecraft’s heat shield.
He Wants AI Benchmarking To Be a Science, Not a Dark Art
Benchmarks are the rulers of AI, in both senses of the word. As measuring sticks, they work according to an extremely simple logic: If you
Horned dinosaurs’ weapons evolved to handle the forces of combat
New simulations reveal which battle moves the skulls of horned dinosaurs could take — and which might have been a very bad idea.
Artemis II results show how much science people can do at the moon
We’ve studied the moon with robotic spacecraft for decades. What do human observers add? Artemis II’s first science results offer some answers.